BRITISH EMPIRE

DEFINITION A worldwide system of dependences –

colonies, protectorates, and other territories – that over a span of three centuries was brought under the sovereignty of the crown of Great Britain and the administration of the British government

The policy of granting or recognizing significant degrees of self-government by dependencies led to the development by the 20th century of the notion of “the British Commonwealth

British Empire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgXO_6pV-AI

Origins of the British Empire

Because of its insularity the maritime trade

has always played an important role in the history of Great Britain

It was sustained by Naval Acts, first being given by the Parliament under the rule of Richard II

Elisabeth I takes the first effective measures because the British naval force was well developed

16th century –marked the beginning of companies: private commercial ventures, chartered and encouraged by the crown

They had certain powers of political control and commercial monopolies over designated geographical areas

In the areas they started setting up fortified trading posts. Where there was no strong indigenous government the English extended their power over the surrounding area

Scattered post were established in India, East Indies, Newfoundland and Hudson Bay

1606 – an attempt to establish English colonies in America, two companies are found

1600 Elisabeth I grants a charter to a Company of Merchants trading into the East Indies

1614 East India Company owns 24 ships

1606 – James I supports new efforts to establish colonies along the coast of America, a charter is given to London Company which later becomes Virginia Company

By 1670 there were British American colonies in New England, Virginia, Maryland and settlements in Honduras, Bermudas, Antigua, Barbados and Nova Scotia

1655 Jamaica was obtained by conquest

1670s the Hudson’s Bay Company established in present northwestern Canada

1600 East India Company began establishing trading posts in India and the Straits Settlements: Penang, Singapore, Malacca, Labuan

1661 – the first African colony James Island

Sierra Leone – slave trade had begun Later Britain acquired Cape of Good Hope Nearly all the early settlements arose

from the enterprise of particular companies and magnates rather from any effort of the British crown. The crown exercised some rights of appointment and supervision, but the colonies were essentially self-managing enterprises

Conclusion: The formation of the empire was an

unorganized process

In accordance with the mercantilist philosophy of the time the colonies were regarded as a source of raw materials for England and were granted monopolies for their products on he British market

They were expected to conduct all their trade by means of English ships

The Navigation Act of 1651 as well as the subsequent acts set a closed economy between Britain and its colonies

The slave trade was important for Britain’s colonial economy

It was abolished in 1807 British naval power gained many

victories against France: in India, Robert Clive’s military victories provided Britain accession of territory and ensured Britain’s supremacy in India

1763 the Treaty of Paris ensured the dominance over Canada after the Seven Years’ War

17th century – there was a great demand for sugar and tobacco which determined the growth of plantations on the islands of Caribbean and in the SE of North America

These colonies together with those established in NE North America attracted many European settlers.

First they were organized by chartered companies, later they developed institutions modeled on the English lines

The need of cheap labour on the plantations led to the growth of slavery and to new chartered companies settlement on African coasts

The 18th century meant a revitalization of old chartered companies

The British government attempted to assert a greater control over its empire. This led to frictions between the governors and the colonial assemblies.

The Second Empire The second phase of territorial

expansion was determined by the voyages of James Cook to Australia and New Zealand (1770s) and new conquests in India

The loss of the American colonies was compensated by Trinidad and later Tobago, Mauritius, Santa Lucia, Malta, Malacca, Singapore and in India United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, Central Provinces, East Bengal and Assam

19th century – the full flower of the British Empire

Administration and policy changed a lot from haphazard arrangements to a sophisticated system due to Joseph Chamberlain –

businessman, social reformer, radical politician, ardent imperialist

His ideas on tariff reform and imperial unity were in advance of his time and pointed the direction British policy would take in the 20th century

William Dyce-Neptune Resigning to Britannia the Empire of the Sea

1840 New Zealand became officially British

British control was extended to Fiji, Tonga, Papua and other islands in the Pacific Ocean

19th century – the greatest extension of British power took place in Africa

Acknowledged ruling force in Egypt (1882), in Sudan (1889)

Gold Coast, The Gambia, today’s Kenya and Uganda, Zimbabwe and Malawi

1902 – Transvaal and Orange Free State were annexed